Iceland Backtracks on Bárðarbunga Volcano Eruption

Computer screens show seismic activity from the Bardarbunga volcanic eruption at the Icelandic met office in Reykjavik on August 23, 2014. Iceland raised its alert over the nation's largest volcanic system to red on Saturday, banning all air traffic in the area, after detecting a small sub-glacial eruption. A major explosion at the Bardarbunga volcano could signal a replay of the global travel chaos triggered when another Icelandic peak blew four years ago, creating a massive ash cloud across Europe.Getty Images

Iceland has retracted its statement from yesterday (23 August) and the Meteorological Office has reduced the aviation alert color code from red back down to orange, reported Bloomberg.

Iceland's authorities had raised the country's aviation warning code to red yesterday, (23 August) with a red code implying significant quantities of ash are likely to be released.

A team of scientists flew over the area yesterday and that revealed that there wasn't an eruption taking place or any floods coming from the glacier. However, there's a lot of seismic activity in the glacier despite there being no visible signs of an eruption.

- Urdur Gunnarsdottir, a spokeswoman for the Civil Protection Agency

Urdur Gunnarsdottir, a spokeswoman for the Civil Protection Agency, said today (24 August): "A team of scientists flew over the area yesterday [23 August] and that revealed that there wasn't an eruption taking place or any floods coming from the glacier.

"However, there's a lot of seismic activity in the glacier despite there being no visible signs of an eruption."

"There are no indications that the activity is slowing down, and therefore an eruption cannot be excluded. Observations show that a sub-glacial eruption did not occur yesterday. The intense low-frequency seismic signal observed yesterday has therefore other explanations.

"Probably, earthquakes near the Bardarbunga caldera are a consequence of adjustment to changes in pressure because of the flow of magma from under the caldera into the dike, which stretches to Dyngjujokull, more than 25 kilometers away. No signs of tremor, indicative of eruption, were detected during the night."